To your knowledge, does anyone close to power have an explanation as to why we’re just now hearing about Hamels and Pettibone entering the 2014 season with untreated or unresponsive inflamed shoulders the team has been aware of for months?

One second-hand report I read (i assume spurious) claims Hamels was never even given an MRI.
Is that true?

Also, Hamels condition was described as “biceps tendonitis.”
A quick Google of the condition describes it as often just a symptom of a more serious injury. Has anyone pressed the team’s PR people on the subject or followed up even with educated conjecture based on the minimal information supplied by the team?

Lay off the medical staff all you experts from the Mayo Clinic and all you Center for Disease Control MDs. When you actually see the medical charts and can prove that you can understand them, then you can bitch.

Medical reports are confidential; there are even laws governingf that privacy. If a player wants to keep an issue to himself, his doctor, boss, press agent, and even the president of the company he works for is not allowed to leak any information.

Maybe the Phils’ staff doesn’t know what they’re talking about, but I doubt it. And they can only do what the player agrees to do. Would any of you experts chose to have an MRI if your shoulder got a little stiff or a tiny bit sore when throwing for the first time after several months of inactivity? In my experience with doctors (and I’ve had plenty) they’re usually overly agressive in trying to diagnose a problem. They’ll attempt to sell you a brain scan when you come in with a headache due to a hangover.